So the test of the Jade Book of Conscience officially began.
Mr. Yangming said: "You said, 'Unless a saint dies, thieves will never stop.' What exactly does this mean?"
Ye Feng glanced at Mr. Yangming and said, "Are you sure you want me to answer this question? This sentence is a Taoist comment against Confucianism. Are you sure you want me to say it?"
Mr. Yangming smiled, but unfortunately his face was a little deformed by Ye Feng. It looked a little funny, and even made others who saw his face feel a little pain, but Ye Feng didn't feel it, because his face was Ye Feng's. call taxi.
Mr. Yangming said: "Although I am a Confucian and my philosophy of mind is also Confucianism, after all, it is the integration of the three schools of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism. I have also studied Taoism, and the person who knows you best in the world is besides your close friend. You are the enemy, so I naturally want to know what you think, as you are the same three schools of Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism, but have taken the completely opposite path to me."
Ye Feng looked at Mr. Yangming calmly. After a moment, he sighed and replied:
"The view that 'if a saint does not die, thieves will not stop' comes from the mouth of Zhuangzi, one of the "Lao Zhuang" of Taoism. At the same time, Zhuangzi explained this view in his chapter "Zhuangzi: The Sui".
"First of all, we have to be clear: Confucius was revered as a 'literary sage' by future generations because he founded the Confucian school. In the eyes of many people, he was the first 'sage' in history. But what Zhuangzi called a 'sage' , but it does not refer specifically to Confucius. Zhuangzi said this in the original text: "When the saint is dead, the big thieves will not be able to afford it, and the world will be peaceful for no reason. If the saint is not dead, the thieves will not stop. Even if you value the saint and rule the world, it is just a matter of focusing on profit and stealing." .' The meaning of this sentence is: If the saint dies, the thieves will not rise again, and the world will be peaceful and there will be no changes. As long as the saint does not die, the thieves will not stop. Although the saint is reused to rule the world, the thieves will still gain the greatest benefit.
"So what Zhuangzi really meant was that even Confucius was criticized.
"So why do thieves inevitably appear when there are "sages"? This contains Zhuangzi's philosophical thought of "Equality of Things".
"In addition to emphasizing 'Tao follows nature' and 'governing by doing nothing', Taoism also has another core viewpoint which is the theory of 'equality of things'. Taoism believes that 'Tao' is divided into two poles, and where there is good there must be evil. Tao cannot be named or visible. But it is omnipresent and contains nothing. It is boundless, limitless, infinite, limitless, endless, and infinite. Wuji gives birth to Tai Chi, and Tai Chi gives birth to two things. Tai Chi is one, giving rise to two, two giving birth to three, and three giving birth to all things.
"Taoists believe that we live in a world of duality. Heaven and earth, heaven and earth, right and wrong, right and wrong, good and evil, joy and sorrow, success and failure, gains and losses, blessings and misfortunes, bad luck... This kind of duality is like the yin and yang of Tai Chi. , oppose each other, transform each other, depend on each other, and endless loops. This is the principle of the movement of the opposite, and it is also the law of the Tao.
"In Zhuangzi's view, there is no wealth without poverty. It is the existence of the gap between the rich and the poor that makes people greedy. In terms of class, there is no lowliness without nobility. This artificial concept creates In the same way, without saints, there would be no great thieves. It is precisely because some people seize the highest point of morality and use their own ideas to restrain others that many thieves with "moral defects" will appear.
"In addition, Zhuangzi also cited two examples in the article.
"The first is the example of thieves. In order to guard against thieves who open boxes, take out bags, and pry cabinets, smart people in the world will tighten the ropes and strengthen the locks. But when the thieves arrive, they will easily carry the boxes and lift the cabinets. , carrying the cloth bag and sneaking away, they were still afraid that the rope and the lock were not strong enough. All the smart people did was to give it up to others. But for the sake of fairness, the sage made a douhu to measure grains and a market scale to weigh things. , made seals to facilitate communication, in order to educate the people and promote benevolence and righteousness. However, the thieves stole the Dendrobium, market scales, seals and even benevolence and righteousness one after another and took them for themselves.
"The second example directly names the great thief of the country at that time - Tian Chengzi of Qi State. Qi State was originally a descendant of Jiang Taigong as a prince, but Tian Chengzi stole Qi State by killing the monarch of Qi State. Tian Chengzi not only connected Qi State with He also stole the laws and regulations left by the previous leadership team. His descendants lived in Qi for twelve generations and were called Qi. By the time of King Wei of Qi, his ancestors were big thieves. By his time He suddenly transformed into a wise king and a holy king.
"The book "Zhuangzi" says: Those who steal hooks will be punished, and those who steal the country will be princes. The thieves among the people who only stole small items such as clothes hooks were punished, but those who stole the country became Princes. There were many people who did bad things in the name of saints and saints during the Spring and Autumn Period. If you read "Historical Records", you will find that during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the world was in chaos. Today a son kills his father, and tomorrow his brother kills his father. Brother, the queen the day after tomorrow killed the concubine... her crime is comparable to that of a great thief. Once these people come to power and have royal power, they use benevolence, righteousness, etiquette, and etiquette to regulate the world and rule the people. From this perspective, saints and great robbers are the same. what differences are there?
"Therefore Zhuangzi believes that the so-called filial piety, brotherhood, benevolence, righteousness, loyalty, trustworthiness, chastity, honesty, etc. are all things that human nature has destroyed and been flaunted by humans. If everyone lives according to the Tao, the world is in order, how can there be big thieves? There is no need for a saint. In terms of filial piety, crows give birth to nurturing children, and lambs kneel to breastfeed. There is no need to show filial piety, but to fulfill the duty of nurturing children. Support with the purpose of focusing on showing filial piety has become a common practice, so there are filial sons and unfilial sons. In the end, some people cannot satisfy the so-called Filial piety, but gave up support, so that most of the elderly in the world have no one to support them, and those who were originally filial were forced to become one of the "big thieves". This is simply a lose-lose situation
"Zhuangzi believes that it is precisely because these so-called "sages" constantly put forward new concepts and moral laws that society will always be turbulent. After all, without comparison, there will be no harm. For example, in ancient times, the question of whether a woman remarried after losing her husband, In fact, it should be left to women to choose freely. However, because Confucianism deliberately strengthened it, women were put on moral shackles. Women in later generations are fighting for that chastity arch. But do they really want to? In fact, this is not the case.
"So Zhuangzi's "As long as the sage dies, the robbers will continue", it means: Don't use your own moral standards to intimidate others. Such intimidation will cause social disharmony. People are neither saints nor evil people, so don't always talk about things. For high-sounding principles, we should understand others from a human perspective. There are no absolute saints and villains. As long as no one seizes the moral high ground, nothing evil will happen."
Mr. Yangming said: "What you said before was from the perspective of Zhuangzi. I want to hear your opinion."
Ye Feng said: "My opinion is that what Zhuangzi said is nonsense! It makes no sense!"
